Seven
by Mishelle Azure
Summary: Seven surviving warriors from the battle of Pieta. Seven ghosts holding the memory of twenty-four. Seven long years cursed to the north. These are the years the spent there training, learning, surviving.
1. Chapter One The Last Battle (Deneva)

_***Revised***_

Deneva

Deneva blocked quickly as a blade swung into her view barley allowing her enough time to put up her sword in defence, another savage strike came from above, she was surrounded by monsters each one trying to break down her defences for a kill. Maybe it's hopeless, in fact it was definitely hopeless but she fought harder all the same. A cold rage burned in her blood keeping her going, keeping her fighting. She attacked cutting off the limb of the awakened being she'd been focusing on for a while, unfortunately it has more arms where that came from, as this was the tenth one she cut off and it still had more, it just kept regenerating.

"Cynthia!" Helen screamed as Cynthia fell to the ground a deep would through her chest dripping blood onto the snow.

"Damn it, you bastards!" she yelled.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" Helen charged in trying avenging the fallen. _Damn it, she is going to get her self killed!_ Deneva thought jumping into the air. She had to save Helen before that awakened one got to her. Deneva struck the monster in the arm, her sword dug into its flesh and stopped half way through. She needed to put more power into her strike to finish the job. _Its not enough, damn it!_ She sent a wave of yoki to her arm making her muscles swell giving her the strength needed to cut the damn thing off. Deneva landed on the ground, hard. Pain shot though her ankle. It was broken from the impact. She clutched her leg willing it to heal but out of the corner of her eye something was streaking towards her, another claw from the awakened was about to smash into her body. The claw suddenly disintegrated into a cloud of purple blood just before it was going to hit her, Clare was standing in front of her blade drawn, Clare's quick sword just saved her from the blow. Deneva pushed more yoki to her ankle until it was healed enough to stand in.

"Thanks. I owe you." Deneva stated, that blow would have defiantly killed her if not for Clare.

"No need. I just repaid you." Clare replied blank faced, Deneva was surprised but understood, she didn't consider it a debt but she was just 'repaid' for pulling Clare back together after Jean died, Clare likely would have sat there holing Jean until she was killed her self.

They stood back to back staring down the hordes of awakened ones in front of them, Clare and Deneva looked at each other knowing they were going to face it down together, keeping each others back safe. They launched into the fray again and continued their unwinnable battle against Islay's army. The fight was relentless they attacked continually not letting up for a moment. Fatigue was setting in after about the thirtieth appendage she severed fell to the ground, the battle raged on Deneva was fighting against insurmountable odds but she just had to keep her focus block, parry, strike, keep her blades moving over and over again; she struck out chopping limbs and getting chopped.

On a good day she could easily heal all of the injuries she sustained in an instant but the constant healing was draining her and now she even couldn't repair herself anymore, block, parry strike, defend, attack, strike, block! Parry! Strike! Her defences were falling, exhaustion held her in it's shackles, Deneva's swords felt like they were made of lead and the opponents just kept coming. A scream rang though the carnage. _Helen! That was her scream damn it!_ Deneva tried to locate Helen in the crowd, but her momentary loss of concentration allowed a blade to sneak past her and it went straight through her stomach. There wasn't even a choice, she hit the ground her blades falling from her hands.

"Deneva!" she heard Clare shout, Deneva's stomach was gushing blood and her whole body was in agony. _Damn it! Damn it all to hell, this is it! Clare doesn't have any one at her back anymore, Helen's probably dead. Just like Undine. Damn it_! She looked up at the sky in defeat, snow softly falling in her face, _This is it, at least it's finally over, this hell is finally over._ Deneva just looked up as her vision began to fad_e. Perhaps they really is an after life- No, I am not so lucky as to have a respite of any kind, what did I ever do to deserve a break. A coward like me. I'm helpless to do anything again. What a failure I turned out to be. I didn't save Helen, I didn't save Undine, and I don't even have enough strength to get up. How pathetic. _ The world dropped away as she caught her last glimpse of the clouds before she was dragged into the abyss.

* * *

><p>Ice cold air rushed into her lungs as she gasped and coughed, <em>I'm alive?<em> She thought in disbelief. So Miria's plan worked after all. Actually she wasn't that surprised Miria was an excellent leader and she rarely failed in any thing she did. Deneva went to get up but the wound in her stomach practically knocked her down from the pain and doubled over coughing. She survived, out of all the people here she survive. She got up slowly shaking off the snow that had piled up around her while she had been unconscious. A few more coughs shook her body and a little bit of blood dribbled out of her mouth. Sitting up was excruciating there were still cuts and gashes all over her body making it difficult to move, as well as the hole through her abdomen, _How am I going to heal all this without using my yoki?_ The medication was still in affect so she couldn't sense any one near by.

She began to focus on healing her stomach, but without her powers it was very slow going. She pushed the energy into her abdomen trying to close the wound putting all her focus on the stomach, regenerating organs and flesh.

Once there was no longer a breeze flowing through her stomach she surveyed the area. The entire town was reduced rubble not a single building remained untouched; the whole place was destroyed. How many others survived this? Could she be the only one left? Panic began to seep into her blood, then she heard it, the sound of armour clinking together. Deneva began to get to her feet, the minute she moved shock waves of pain rippled through body; her wound may have closed but she was no where near healed. Walking used serious focus each step was agonizing. She walked slowly around the corner of a broken building revealing the town square, there was a hunched figure sitting in the middle of the clearing, bodies and blood were everywhere, all the warriors were all here, dead. Shock at the massacre stopped her dead in her tracks, she had to take a moment to look it over again to realise a few of them appeared to be stirring, there were survivors after all. She relaxed in relief that he was not the only one left.

Clare was already standing up, limping but alive. Helen was sitting up rubbing a wound on her shoulder. Uma, Cynthia and Tabitha were still laying on the ground but breathing. The rest, the seventeen other warriors were dead. _Damn the organization!_ It's a miracle any of them survived at all- no thanks to them sending their own warriors on a suicide mission. Miria really out did her self this time; she took a zero percent chance of surviving and managed to save seven of them. Deneva walked over to where Miria was sitting.

"Seven people... Seven... Only... A mere... Seven." Miria cried bitterly full of anguish.

"Was this.. Really, really... The best possible...? Wasn't there something... Anything... A... Better way... Did I... Really..." Miria sobbed blaming her self, Miria was crying because she didn't do better, damn Miria. She took their death's like she had killed them her self, can't she see she saved them, and did so in an impossible situation. Deneva sighed and walked towards her, Helen had gotten up she and Clare picked her up off the ground shaking.

"Look at us, Miria. These are the lives you saved." Deneva said, Miria looked around at the faces of the survivors, Tabitha and Cynthia were already sitting up.

"Nobody is cursing you. As long as we understand the feelings of those who died it will be alright." she said looking into Miria's eyes trying to get her to that this was not her fault.

"We were really fortunate to have you as our leader. That is what I believe from the bottom of my heart." Miria looked at her with surprise and began crying again. They stood like that for a while, mourning. Miria finally stopped crying, she put her leader face on and dried her tears

"Okay we have to get out of here." she said in a professional tone.

"The organization will send a warrior to look for survivors and the pills will not last much longer." she said looking over everybody, they were all standing except Cynthia, who had her entire leg shattered, from being stepped on my an awakened being while she was unconscious

"Cynthia, can you stand?" Miria asked

"Yes" she said attempting to get up, she grunted and fell back down after trying to move her injured leg she let out a cry and stayed on the ground. Tabitha, the closest to her walked over and picked her up

"Don't worry I've got you." she said walking over to the group Cynthia in her arms

"Thanks." Cynthia replied feebly

"We've got to put some distance between us and Pieta. We're going to take shelter in a near by cave until we're all well enough to travel." she said they all grabbed their swords and set out.

The trek was long and very hard, every step was agony, all of her wounds were barely healing so her body was in horrible shape for the 20 kilometer journey to the cave they met in two days ago, it seemed a lot further away this time. They walked in silence except for the need to pass Cynthia to somebody else when Tabitha got tired. When they finally reached the cave the minute the got inside they all dropped to the ground from exhaustion.

After a few minutes of rest Deneva got up and stuck her swords into the ground. She walked over to where Helen had set Cynthia down and pulled Cynthia's sword off her back and gave it back to her.

Deneva carried it for Cynthia from Pieta since she couldn't carry it herself. Cynthia took the sword and looked at it for a minute with an unreadable expression on her face then planted it behind her. Most of the other warriors had followed suit and were leaning against their blades, Helen and Uma were passed out under the swords Clare was staring at the wall blank faced, Miria had her eyes closed but was not asleep, and Tabitha was sitting cross legged against the wall. Deneva considered sitting down like the others but she know once she stopped moving she would be left to think and the thoughts that she has so far ben able to push down would come to the surface. She needed to leave, she needed something to do.

Deneva got up and left the cave with her swords in hand. Firewood, they needed firewood. Food would be good too, they are going to need more energy to travel. She set out to find a good tree to cut down and make into kindling keeping her own dark thought at bay, it was still dark when she found a suitable pine, Deneva then proceeded to cut it down and dismember it into small enough pieces to burn. She gathered as much as she could carry and headed back to the cave. On her way she spotted a frozen stream. Deneva stopped, _there could be fish down there_. She dropped the wood and cut a hole in the ice. Deneva stared at the hole, what would she do now, it's not like she had a fishing pole or anything she could just wait for one to swim by, she had done it before, but the whole reason she left the cave was to avoid sitting doing nothing. _Bad things happen when you can't do a job right._ A voice in the back of her head whispered. Without even really thinking about it she shrugged and dove into the icy water with one of her swords, the shock form the cold water was enough to clear her head. She started swimming around in search of fish, she swam to the bottom of the creak and a small body streaked past her the fish didn't stand a chance against her speed and before long she surface four fish in hand. Shaking off the icy water. Deneva slightly regretted diving right in, it would take energy to maintain her body heat and that's not something she could spare right now. She shook off some water and grabbed her other sword along with the wood and walked back to the cave.

"I got some supplies." Deneva stated dropping the wood and setting down the fish water dripping from her hair.

"Good, the journey would be difficult to make, especially without any food and everybody's injuries." Miria said nodding, Deneva rung out her uniform and set to starting the fire, the light and warmth was a welcome sight especially since she was soaking wet and covered in snow. The cold didn't really affect her but it was costly to her body to maintain her body heat not to mention a bit uncomfortable. Helen started preparing the fish to put them over the fire to cook. Deneva sat back down once the fire was built and let the fire dry her off for while. Helen already put the fish over the fire and was cooking it. The fish didn't take long to cook and was passed around and eaten ravenously once done, they were all weak from their wounds and needed as much nutrition as they could get to heal more quickly.

Deneva relaxed against her swords and closed her eyes, she knew better than to try and get any sleep because she knew the moment she drifted off nightmares would plague her dreams so instead she just focused on healing. Miria had told them to supress their yoki as much as possible to keep from being detected. She began working on her stomach wound first, she was able to regenerate her internal organs to at least working order then worked on the slashes and cuts over the rest of her, knitting muscle and tissue back together until she could finally move all of her limbs properly, it was monotonous painful work but kept her occupied. Deneva knew she couldn't put it off any longer her body was exhausted, from her injuries and all the healing she did, if she wanted to be able to stand when they left the cave she would have to sleep. Her mind was fatigued and once she gave in she was immediately pulled to unconsciousness.

That night she saw the faces of each warrior slain in the north, saw then die one at a time bleeding on the ground or being torn apart by awakened beings crying out for help just like her sister, and all she could do was watch, paralysed by fear unable to help any of them. She awoke breathing heavily, she looked around and to see the others were sleeping, but Miria was missing, she guessed that she wasn't be the only one to be woken by nightmares. There was no use attempting to go back to sleep so she began to polish her sword wiping off the dried blood and rebinding the leather on the handle. She then turned to the other sword, Undine's sword, her captain who's dead now. She took her sword and will uphold Undine's legacy, she will make sure Undine wont be forgotten. So she polished her sword too, taking extra care around the insignia, Undine's memory will survive on through her sword, just like her friend.


	2. Chapter Two New Beginnings (Cynthia)

Cynthia

Cynthia sat against her sword the cave floor beneath her, she still couldn't walk her bones were still crushed. The pain was intense but she was used to it by now. The others were still sleeping Deneva finally finished cleaning her swords and was asleep, she was alone in a sense, and could finally let her mask drop, she normally was able to keep composure easily and remain optimistic but there was no hope in her thoughts on this occasion. Ever since she woke up this feeling that she shouldn't be here was eating away at the back of her mind, she should have stayed on the ground covered in blood in Pieta. Veronica, her captain was slain before her eyes and she survived, they were only one rank apart but because of that monster she was here while Veronica was still buried in the snow. Dark thoughts were swirling around her head beating her brain with despair.

"Stop." she whispered to her self, she couldn't afford to be weak, in order to survive Miria is going to need all of them to be strong. Weakness is a sin.

"Weakness in a sin." she repeated aloud, her father always said that to her, when ever she hurt her self playing outside she would coming running back home crying and her father would yell 'what are you crying about! If you can't take pain of such a scrape how do you expect to live life! Weakness is a sin!' since she was five, any time she was in pain her face would remain calm and composed, showing weakness was not acceptable. Her face remained ever optimistic and she kept her self from being dragged down by anything, persevering through the worst.

Now she had to do it again. She took a deep breath and began to treat her leg. The bones had to be realigned before she could heal them, it was going to hurt, a lot, but it had to be done. She reached for her ankle, the first break was one centimetre above the joint she moved the bone fragment back into it's place, she clenched her jaw as she shifted the bone under her skin, each movement was excruciatingly painful. Cynthia worked her way up her leg, fitting each bit of bone back into place, the only indication she was in pain was a slight cringe every time her snapped a piece into place. She was good at keeping a straight face, but then again she had to be.

It was torturous work but every bone was now in it's proper place, but now she would work on healing them. With out her yoki it was going to be slow and painful but had to be done. The fish had helped raise her energy but it was no where near enough to fuel this kind of healing, it would have to do however, Cynthia didn't have much choice, she needed her leg, she would not be reduced to being carried again. Sucking in some air she began the slow process of connecting fragment to fragment until she the job was complete, she kept control over her mind and body as she healed, slow even breaths and rhythmic waves of healing energy into the bone Connecting cell to cell mending all the fibers of her bones until they we back together. One two three, one two three, one two three, she counted in her head as she healed, keeping a rhythm helped her focus on her task, one two three, knitting bone together, healing her leg one two three.

All the pieces were finally holding when she leaned back, panting from the exertion, they were just barely holding together but after some sleep it should be strong enough to walk on, the muscle was a bit weak but that could be healed later. Cynthia lowered her head and closed her eyes finally allowing the exhaustion to set in, sleep came easily and she let her body finally get some rest. Perhaps it was her bodies way of rewarding her, because for once she slept dreamlessly and had some respite in her sleep.

She awoke to the sounds of movement, her eyes were greeted to the other warriors milling around the cave, Uma noticing she was awake sat down next to her.

"How are you doing?" she asked

"Fine." Cynthia replied with a smile, her mind was still clouded with dark thoughts but she tried to put on some semblance of her normal self as not to worry the others.

"Okay now that every one is up we can begin discussing our situation." Miria said putting authority into her voice projecting strength, it was exactly what Cynthia needed something steady that she could rely on to keep her from falling apart, and Miria's leadership was a constant, she was able to save the lives of seven people. She watched Miria and reinforced her composure.

"We need to leave this cave. Cynthia can you walk?" Miria said addressing her. After all of her work last night she was fairly confident it would hold her weight.

"Yes" she replied getting up, it took her a little longer to get to her feet than she would have liked but when she put weight on the leg it held, it may have been agonizing but it didn't collapse underneath her.

"Good. We must go further north, our yoki is still detectable, we need a place to hide from the organization. If they realize any of us survived they will immediately dispatch an execution squad to purge us for deserting." she paused and looked around, nobody had any problems with her plan so she continued

"We will set out in an hour, be ready to leave it will be a long journey." she said and got up leaving the cave.

"Deneva, Where did you get those fish? I'm starving and my stomach is grumbling, I would rather not walk up a mountain on an empty stomach." Helen said to Deneva, she sighed exasperatedly and got up.

"Follow me, you have the attention span of a fly, I'll get the fish, you find some wood for the fire."

"Kay." she said following her out of the cave

"Fish isn't my favourite food but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures eh." Helen began her voice fading as she got further from the cave. A after a few moment Clare left silently without explanation. Tabitha was sitting the corners trying to repair some of her armour not really paying attention to much except the task at hand. Uma was still sitting next to her sword, Cynthia decided she would get more sleep. She didn't know how long they would be traveling and it would be wise to get as much rest as possible. She relaxed against her blade and closed her eyes praying she would be lucky enough to not have another nightmare. She let her mind wander willing sleep to find her, but just as she was about to lose consciousness an image of Veronica floated through her mind forcing her wide awake, then it happened again, when ever she was about to find some rest Veronica or another of the recently killed would enter into her thoughts, dead would come to drag her mind away from sleep before she could get any rest. She didn't blame them, she was alive and they weren't, their fury was a punishment she would bare, even if it drove her mad she would bare it because she was alive and they weren't and that's not okay.

She was about to drift again when she was woken by Helen and Deneva walking back into the cave, Helen was talking loudly.

"I just don't see why you wouldn't even let my try my hand at fishing, maybe I'm good at it. I mean I know I've never done it before but who knows maybe I could have caught more then you, I pick things up rather quickly you know." she droned on carrying an arm full of wood to the burned out fire pit from last evening. Deneva followed her in carrying two fish, she had a hint exasperation on her face when she replied, she was normally expressionless like Clare so Helen must have been talking for a long time to crack Deneva's armour.

"Because you talk endlessly and do so at a high volume. You were scaring the fish away from all the way in the forest."

"Gosh, you don't have to be so mean about it, I just wanted to try, usually I just find some fruit or something so I've never had the need to fish, but now I really want to try it and you're being so stingy. Helen replied arranging the wood on the floor they continued their banter for a while cooking the fish, Helen jabbering endlessly and Deneva occasionally made mildly insulting remarks, they seemed more at ease then when they had been silent, the strange friendship they had is something Cynthia had observed when they first met and it was still a little puzzling as to how they put up with each other, but she guessed if they both got something out of it she was in no place to judge. It must be nice to have someone you can count on she thought she now had no one, Veronica was someone she was close too, they had been from the same part of the continent and brought onto the organization at the same time, they had been put in the same class and had know each other fairly well as trainees, and were even able to remain close as warriors. They had been on three hunting missions together and stayed in contact afterwards, Cynthia had always been a bit competitive and was a little jealous of Veronica's lead over as number 13 before being assigned to the northern force. But now Veronica was dead and she was alone, no one to out do anymore, she was without her friend forever now.

"Want some?" Helen said standing over her bringing her out of her thoughts, Helen held a piece of slightly burnt fish in her hand and offered it to her.

"Uh sure." Cynthia replied, smiling out of habit and taking the food from Helen.

Cynthia just finished eating the fish when Miria entered the cave.

"We're departing now, put out the fire and meet me outside." she said and turned around and left. Cynthia got up as Deneva stomped out the small cooking fire. They all dawned they broken armour and blades and left the cave. Clare was already outside with Miria and they were talking quietly, Miria looked up as the group approached.

"Were heading into the mountains. There will be more cover and it is very isolated, we'll be safer there. We're going to be looking for a cave that we can take shelter in preferably near a water source and that's easily defendable." she said addressing all of us, scaling a mountain in her condition was going to be awful, the walk from the cave extremely painful, it is it took all of her concentration not to limp and that was only across flat ground.

"But before we leave we must gather some supplies, high in the mountains there will be very little resources and we will want to avoid coming down here as much as possible so we will be scouting a small town a day's travel from here for some supplies to take with us, Isley's army passed through that town before coming to Pieta so it should be deserted."

"Great. So you're saying not only are we going to be climbing a mountain but first we have to take a trip to a destroyed town to scavenge some crap and then carry it up the mountain." Helen complained

" Helen." Deneva said sharply glaring

"What?" she said defensively "I'm not saying that I wont do it just that it wont be any fun."

"If you want fun we can leave you at the organization you'll have lots of fun there, not need to carry things." Deneva said coldly

"Gosh, you've been so touchy, I'm just expressing my opinion. Back off will you, I don't know what's gotten into you lately." Helen continued nonchalantly

"What's gotten into me lately!? Haven't you been paying attention for the past couple days! We're alone out here with the organization hunting us and most of our comrades dead by their hands; and all you can think about is you're own comfort! What do you think's gotten into me!" Deneva exploded, she turned around and stormed off leaving Helen staring mouth hanging open. We all stared in shock as Deneva marched into the distance in a cloud of rage, it was shocking to see Deneva, level headed Deneva just lose it, and over something so minor. None of them had mentioned the battle since they left Pieta and maybe it was affecting them more that they realised.

"Come on, lets go, Deneva is heading in the right direction anyway." Miria said bringing them back to their senses, they began to walk after Deneva towards to town, this was going to be a long walk.


	3. Chapter Three Wreckage (Helen)

Helen

Right left, right left, right left, walking had never taken this much effort before, so why did it take so much out of her now? The whipping wind and heavy snow did not make it any easier to continue walking, Helen and been walking for several hours now and it was miserable. The seven of them walked in silence the entire time, Deneva's outburst kept everybody from talking, and the howling wind didn't make conversation any easier. They caught up with her after about half an hour, she left a trail in the snow so it wasn't that hard to find her. Nobody commented on Deneva's words to her, Helen stayed in the back of the group second last after Cynthia, even Uma was faster than the two of them. Deneva was in the front of the herd not bothering to looking back. They all just continued walking towards the dead town that was their crappy destination, not that they had much choice.

_This is such crap, if the organization hadn't lost it's damn mind and sent us out here... hell the organization did all of this, they mush have been this way the entire time, Miria was right._ Helen thought to her self bitterly _They killed all of us, just tossed us aside like garbage, Damn it! we're people too- No, stop gotta' keep walking, thinking about the organization will only slow me down and I gotta' survive so I can rip every one of their miserable heads off. _Helen's rage burned brightly in her mind no matter how hard she tried to concentrate on walking, Deneva had always told her to keep a lid on her emotions but she couldn't help her self, before long all she could think about was the organization and all the lives they had cost with their dumb plan. She could practically keep her self warm with all the anger that was bubbling in her blood, how could they just betray her like that? she had worked hard to improve her rank and make more money for those damn leeches and they just tossed not only her away but 24 other warriors, just decided to kill them off? That was unacceptable in her eyes and it made her blood boil.

_On the topic of betrayal _she thought to her self, Deneva her best friend in the world screamed at her, accused her of being a selfish lay-about who only cared about her own comfort, of course she noticed all of their comrades die, she was there, she saw. Veronica, her captain was split in half before her very eyes, and there was nothing she could do about it. Clare had nearly awakened in that battle and asked her to take off her head. 17 warriors were ripped to shreds by awakened beings right in front of her. Of course she noticed, of course she cared. Just because she didn't mope around didn't mean she didn't notice or care about their dead comrades. Helen just tried to stay positive and upbeat like normal otherwise she would be sucked into a pool of despair like the others, and where would that get her. Helen kept her rage flowing and stewed in her fury, she was angry, angry at the organization for doing this to her, angry at Deneva for being like that, angry at life for giving her such a crappy existence, and angry at he self for not being able to protect more of her comrades.

"Oof." escaped her lips as she crashed into Uma's back, Uma and stopped walking right in front of her and because Helen was so buried in her thoughts she didn't even notice. She looked around to see what had made them stop. There was a cluster of ruined buildings a head of them, it looked like they had finally made it to their new supply depot, a pile of rubble. Miria was at the front of the group and had turned to face all of them

"Up a head is the town we will be scouting, there may not be much left but salvage what you can, we may not get another chance to gather more supplies for a while so search the place well." she said motioning to the pile of stones that the 'town' had been reduced to.

"Um, captain Miria?" a voice said from the front of the group

"Yes Tabitha." Miria said turning her attention to her subordinate

"What kind of supplies are we looking for?" she asked

"Any thing that would be useful to our survival. We wont have the men in black coming to our aid anymore so we'll need to be resourceful." Miria replied

"and remember if you're questioning whether to take something ask your self if it's worth carrying up a mountain." Tabitha nodded, then the seven of them set out again making their way towards the town through the cold. The cold may not bother them anymore it could still be unpleasant, having tiny shards of ice launched at your skin for hours on end was not a fun experience.

They reached the town pretty quickly from there, all the buildings were destroyed and there was a lot of red in the snow, it was eerily familiar. They set about collecting half destroyed bits of supplies from the snow shuffling through the bloody ice and rubble.

After about half an hour of searching Miria got every one's attention

"At this rate this storm is going to make it impossible to travel up the mountain, the snow keeps us from seeing anything, and with night approaching visibility will be zero, we're going to have to set up camp here for the night, or at least until the storm passes." Miria announced looking at the sky.

"The inn to the west still has a roof, meet there when you've collected all you're taking." Miria then turned and walked off towards the inn leaving the rest of them to continue scavenging.

* * *

><p>Helen stepped over another boulder and entered the remnants of a house, <em>maybe this time there will be an old pot or something. <em>She thought to her self kicking a broken plank, this was the fifth house she had searched and wasn't expecting to find anything of use, again. Helen wandered into the kitchen checking for food or wood anything really. She moved a large chunk of stone out of the way to get to the cupboards throwing it aside and looking through it's contents, there were a few broken jars of rotten food; now frozen, a couple of shattered plates, and various pieces of cutlery. Not much, she opened the last cupboard door and finally found something of use.

"Yes!" she cried pulling a large basket of preserved food out of the shelves, there were pieces of dried meat, sugared fruits in jars, loaves bread, some cheese, it was all frozen but a warm fire could fix that. She pawned through the basket taking inventory of all the food, looking more closely there was a note at the bottom of the basket.

_I know you don't believe me, but those monsters are coming I saw them, they're just on the other side of the mountain, I have to get out of here. I've taken all my winter stores and left, this is enough for the week's travel. When you come to your senses I will be waiting for you in Hollow Grove Cave bring only what you absolutely need it's going to be a long journey south. _

"Figures, our provisions are somebody else's horrible mistake, this person should have listened and gotten out of here while they could." Helen muttered to her self bitterly, she folded the note and slipped it into her armour keeping it to her self. She let out a sigh and began to walk towards the inn basket in hand. Helen was a little turned around and didn't quite know where she was going, she ended up wandering through the wreckage, and was getting more frustrated by the minute

"Damn town, crappy buildings... damn organization, making us do this." she muttered to her self kicking rubble out of her way into the next abandon house. She crashed into the next room of the house looking for a back door to get her onto the right street. She stumbled a bit entering the room, when she righted her self she noticed she wasn't alone in the room.

"Deneva?" Helen said in surprise, she was standing in the middle of the room looking intently at the floor, when she didn't respond Helen got a little worried

"Deneva?" she repeated

"What's the point in fighting if it gets us no where?" Deneva said not looking up

"Hey, are you okay?" Helen asked concerned, Deneva hadn't talked like this is a while and when she did it was a bad sign.

"We fought our hardest and look how many died."

"Hey we did our best, it was an impossible situation." Helen responded immediately trying to snap her out of it, Deneva chuckled bitterly and said

"That's what I told Miria and what did it do, it doesn't change the fact that they're dead. You know I gave Undine advice too, she's dead now so I guess it didn't do her much good eh. I'm just full of great advice aren't I?" she laughed a little louder "Hypocritical isn't it, I tell Miria to be strong and here I am, how pathetic." Helen set down the basket and walked up to Deneva.

"Hey, it's only natural to grieve after losing someone, All we can do is keep going you know." Helen said trying to comfort her, she was scared her friend was going to fall in to a depression again, when they had first met Deneva was incredibly reckless in battle doing what ever it took to take down the enemy but did so without any thoughts of self preservation, it scared he to see someone be so cavalier with their own life. After all a human soul should not be wasted no matter what.

"All we can do is keep going, my sister said that a lot. Did I ever tell you I had a dog as a child, it died one winter. I liked that dog." Helen finally saw what Deneva was looking at, there was a little girls doll on the floor, there was a small severed hand clutching the doll, a child's arm. Deneva had seen her sister ripped apart in front of her and that had seriously messed her up, things like that messed all of them up. Deneva was once again blaming her self for things she could not help and it was going to drive her crazy, again.

"Damn it Deneva, you can't do this again, you can't just give up! Things happen, that's life, you cant save everybody, if you don't keep fighting, fighting to live, your letting the memories of our comrades die with you!" Helen yelled trying to get her point across, Deneva looked up at her in surprise, she sighed in frustration and closed her eyes taking in a deep breath

"I'm sorry, it's just... I'm sorry." Deneva said, sounding a bit more normal.

"Hey just make sure you know why we're fighting and you'll be fine." Helen said reassuringly, but a bit surprised, Deneva didn't apologize often, but was glad she was coming back to her senses.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you before I was just frustrated and angry, you maybe a bit oblivious and talk way to much at times but I don't think you're selfish." Helen laughed and put an arm around Deneva

"Come on let's go, hey do you know how to get out of here? Oh wait, look what I found, food! thank god right?" Helen said picking up the basket she left on the ground, Deneva flashed her a smirk and walked out of the building through a door that she hadn't noticed before, Helen followed walking back out into the street heading towards the inn. Helen looked into the basket of food and contemplated how long in would take to eat it all and if they would need more for the journey, there were seven of them now and this is only one basket, maybe she would get to try fishing after all.

"Hey Denev, do you think I'm going to get to try fishing? I mean we might only have this one basket for our little hike, what if it doesn't last the entire journey? I want us to be prepared for our trip, do you think we'll need more food?" Helen asked, trying to sound off hand, Deneva shook her sighing looking ever so slightly amused, Helen smirked glad to see things were back to normal. But were they? Deneva my have apologized about her earlier comments but she meant them where she said them, Helen hadn't even considered Deneva's reasons for saying those things just that it hurt her and made her angry that she said them, it didn't even occur to Helen that Deneva might have been the hurt one, Was she actually selfish? The thought was troubling, could she actually be selfish and not know it? Does she only think about her self? She didn't notice Deneva's mood when she was talking to her earlier that day, if she hadn't been so focused on her self maybe she could have helped Deneva sooner. Helen looked up at Deneva pondering her own selfishness. She noticed a small glow coming from the end of the street

"Look's like someone got the fire going." Helen commented, the abandoned inn in sight, another warrior came onto the street, someone came from behind an ally a few streets ahead of them, she appeared to be limping and leaning heavily on the wall.

"Is that Cynthia?" Deneva asked surprised, made sense because of her injured leg, but Helen hadn't noticed her limping when they were enroute, perhaps she was limping and Helen just never noticed, maybe she was too absorbed in her own thoughts, too concerned with her self to notice Cynthia.

"I thought her leg was better?" Deneva said looking concerned

"Let's go help her" Helen said quickening her pace

"Hey are you okay?" Helen asked once she was closer to Cynthia

"Hu?" she said surprised quickly straightening her posture

"Oh yea, I'm fine." she said with a smile on her face, she was obviously in pain, her leg must still be pretty messed up. She probably wasn't able to heal her self all the way before, and walking all day probably made it worse.

"Sure, you are." Helen said as Deneva pulled Cynthia on to her shoulder for support

"Oh, uh thanks." Cynthia said as Deneva pulled her towards the inn, they made their way slowly down the street in relative silence. When they reached the inn Helen pulled the door open to let them in and they shuffled through the door. Looking around Helen noticed that the hearth at the back of the building had a good fire burning in it and the rest of the warriors were already there. There was a stack of stuff to the side of the room, the others supplies she guessed. Deneva put Cynthia onto the floor in front of the fire, Cynthia pulled her sword off her back and stuck it into the wood behind her and leaned back against it.

"Is every thing alright?" Miria asked calmly the others looking concerned.

"Yes... Everything is fine." Cynthia said looking into the fire

"Her leg is still hurt, she has quite a limp when nobody is looking." Deneva cut in

"I'm fine I can still travel." Cynthia said defensively

"Cynthia, if you can you are seriously injured these are things I need to know. We can afford to wait here a day or so until you leg is completely healed, we put enough distance between us and Pieta today that we will be secure here until tomorrow evening at the latest."

"Cynthia, how badly are you injured?" Miria said honing in on her, really giving her the eye until Cynthia broke and confessed.

"My leg was shattered but I was able to heal most of it last night, but the bone is still weak and the surrounding muscle is not healing properly. I will be fine by tomorrow morning." Cynthia said looking down accusingly at her injured leg.

"Good, we will leave midday tomorrow, besides this will give the rest of us more time to recuperate and scavenge for more supplies." Cynthia looked like she wanted to argue but thought better of it and lowered her head in defeat. Helen finally joined them in the circle and dropped the basket of food between them.

"Food ya'll" she said displaying her prise the group, they all looked at the basket less excited then Helen would have liked but they still seemed pleased.

"Impressive Find Helen, where did you get it." Miria asked as Helen went to bring one of the frozen loaves the fire to warm it up

"There was a house I was looking through, the basket was hidden in one of the cupboards." Helen said shuffling some things around

"I wonder why?" Miria questioned looking though the basket

"Who knows, maybe some poor sod went grocery shopping just as the awakened ones came through." Helen said trying to sound casual, she didn't want to explain the note to the others for some reason.

"Hmm maybe." Miria said, Helen had a feeling Miria knew that wasn't the whole story but she didn't particularly care. Once the bread was no longer brick like and frozen she divided it up making sure to give a larger portion to Cynthia, healing took lots of energy and they've all been running on next to nothing, not that that wasn't unusual for them but with all of the strain put on their bodies over the past couple of days it was a bit dangerous, eating the stale bread was the first pleasant activity she had done in a while. The inn was a nice change from the cave they crashed in earlier, the floor wasn't made of ice, and the smoke wasn't in their faces, it was dry and there was food, come to think of it, besides her time in Pieta this was the nicest place she had slept in in a long time.

Helen looked around the room the to her comrades, they looked tired and worn down, Deneva still looked sad; her face was blank but Helen could tell that the deaths of the others still really upset her. Cynthia was holding her leg, probably working on healing it, if she had just said something earlier that idiot could have properly healed it in the first place, she could have saved her self a lot of pain, but Helen supposed that's what it came down too, no one wants to admit they need help. They're warriors after all and when you're a warrior being helpless is a crime, the weak are not pitied they're scorned, the organization made sure to wipe any pity from them during their training. Helen sighed in frustration at the situation.

She looked to Uma next, she was sleeping, probably tired from keeping up with them all day, Uma wasn't the fastest, at least she survived, now she'll have lot's of time to work on getting faster. Tabitha was just resting, looking off to the distance, not sleeping, again. To each their own she supposed, sleep was rare and it was foolish not take advantage of the situation, then again Helen wasn't sleeping either. Clare had her head down leaning against her sword, maybe she was asleep but you could never be sure with Clare, Helen was shocked at how much Clare had gotten better since the first time they'ed met. She wasn't too great with a sword or very formidable for that matter, a damn 47, lowest of the low, sure she had her yoki perception skills but her moves were kind of pathetic. Now Clare was a great warrior, she could probably beat herself in an all out fight, not that Helen would admit it. Clare had amazing control over her yoki and with that new move of her, she was pretty badass, but how is she going to cope with being able to use any yoki. Helen sighed, sad that her friend's new found strength was about to be unusable.

Miria, Miria was also leaning against her sword head lowered but Helen was pretty sure she was awake Miria was always the last one asleep, she was probably thinking up strategies for their survival, always working. She was glad Miria survived, Helen didn't know what they would do with our her. Helen was starting to feel the fatigue set in, she had food i her gut and a warm fire to rest by, it was time to go to sleep, she was worried about her dreams, she had always had nightmares but since Pieta they had been horrible, bloody and gruesome and not in the fun way, where she could cut up all the yoma she wanted but in the watching you're friends getting ripped apart way. She sighed and decided there was no fighting it and closed her eyes letting her mind take her away.


	4. Chapter Four Aftermath (Tabitha)

Tabitha

There were sixty-three wooden beams holding up the inn, one hundred twenty-eight planks of wood, twenty-three panes of glass and, one hundred forty-nine bricks. Tabitha counted them all, she was tired but had given up on sleep a while ago. Every time she would let her defences down to sleep her brain would start asking questions without her permission, questions she was afraid to answer. So she counted. Tabitha had been counting things ever since she was little, her father loved numbers and was always trying to get her to count with him 'Tabby, can you tell me how many stones are in the road? Tabby can you count all the carrots in the garden? Tabby do you know how many windows there are in whole the village?' he would say to her and she would count them for him. There were fourteen yoma in the village, thirty-one people dead people, one claymore, one blade, fourteen dead yoma.

Tabitha counted the number of trainees in her class how each one of them did in their training, the number of days that went by before she received her emblem. Her father may have died but she never stopped counting. Now she couldn't help herself, she couldn't stop counting. Over and over in her head, twenty-four warriors sent to the north, thirty-one awakened beings, seven awakened ones killed, seven warriors survived. Over and over again she played the numbers in her head trying to make sense of it all.

The organization sent twenty-four warriors to the northern town of Pieta to combat thirty-one awakened beings and one creature of the abyss. Those numbers just don't add up. Captain Miria said that this was the organizations design, that they had done this to save themselves, that they used the warrior's bodies as a road block to slow down the army of awakened ones. The organization had ordered them to the north despite knowing the numbers, and were happy with the odds. How could they just betray them in this way, killing off the ones who were deemed replaceable, sending good warriors to the slaughter? Seventeen warriors, eighteen blades, seven awakened beings. The numbers kept swirling around in her head, she had been loyal to the organization for six years, eight months, two weeks. Then they sent her to die six days ago; they presumed her dead two days ago. Seventeen comrades died 49 hours ago; there were now seven people left.

Tabitha sighed out loud, her skull felt like it was going to burst, all of the horrible information that was circulating through her head was pulling her mind in a thousand different directions. She just wanted it to stop, she needed something to do something, something to distract herself. Tabitha had been looking for distractions all day finding any task she could to occupy her thoughts with, but here in this inn there was nothing for her to do but sit in silence and think. She clenched her fists her nails digging into the palms of her hands, she clenched harder still, drawing blood; the pain was at least giving her something to focus on besides the chaos of her mind.

"Tabitha." a soft voice said, Tabitha opened her eyes, her captain was looking at her, Miria's eyes was sharp and observant, her face showed no signs of distress and her gaze steady, Miria was the embodiment of dependability and strength. Tabitha loosened her grip pulling her nails from her palm and took a deep breath.

"The things that happened in Pieta happened, accept them and figure out what you need to do to be able to keep on fighting." Miria held her gaze before returning to her own thoughts, Tabitha continued to stare though, She studied Miria's appearance while taking in what she said, the organization knowingly sent twenty-four warriors to their deaths, accept it.

Tabitha let it sink in; the fact that the organization had betrayed her. They did this, ordered a massacre and did it in such a disgusting manner, they give them the hope of surviving, not informing them of the true dangers they faced. They sent them off on a suicide mission without telling them, dangerous missions are what they were made for and an accepted part of life but to send them off knowing exactly what would happen and to not even tell them. That was the part that sickened her. Using good warriors as pawns in some giant game of chess without regard for their lives, that was unacceptable. The organization really didn't have any good in it accept it. As she let these facts flow through her brain, she was able to find a small bit of peace. She was still furious at the organization for killing her comrades, but there was no longer that lingering doubt.

Tabitha watched Miria some more, her presence was very comforting, to have someone so strong by her side helped to quiet her mind. Captain Miria was someone she could rely on, someone she knew she could count on to be dependable, to care about her wellbeing and knew the value of a life. It lifted a great burden off of Tabitha's shoulders to have someone to trust in. Miria was a great leader, she cared for each and every one of her charges, and people under her command could feel safer knowing that captain Miria had their back. Tabitha decided that the organization did not deserve her loyalty, not after what they've done. Instead she would give her energy to her captain, someone she knew deserved it. Her captain would never betray her as the organization did, send her off to die without a word, Miria was someone who she would serve faithfully because, she knew that at her core her captain was a good person. With this great burden lifted off her shoulders Tabitha's mind was a less chaotic place, and with it she was finally able to get some long put off rest.

* * *

><p>Tabitha was woken by a presence, she opened her eyes just in time to see the door of the inn silently close. She looked around the room and saw that Miria was missing from her spot by the fire. Tabitha got up off the floor and silently followed her outside. Tabitha wondered why Miria had left by herself, she wanted to find out and followed her out of the inn. Tabitha was still supressing her yoki as this was an area she was quite skilled in so her yoki was nearly undetectable. Once she was outside she followed the foot prints in the fresh snow through the streets. It was still heavily snowing from the storm so she could only see a few feet in front of her face. She had walked a fair distance from the inn when she felt Miria's faint yoki signature and slowed her pace, once she got close enough she approached the clearing where the captain was and hid out of sight behind a pile of rubble.<p>

The captain was standing in a clearing between two buildings, she was facing south with her eyes closed, she looked to be just standing by herself in the snow. Tabitha was confused as to why Miria was all the way out here.

"I know it's been a while, but I need your help." Tabitha froze in panic, she had been found out. She was about to come out from behind the boulder to apologize for spying, but Miria kept speaking.

"I need your help, I don't know what I'm going to do. We're all in such danger, we'll be hunted if the organization ever found out we survived, and to be stuck in the north with nothing but scraps, weak and beaten, having lost so many comrades, so many... Hilda I just don't know what to do." Miria wasn't speaking to her, she was talking to someone named Hilda. Tabitha crept back behind her boulder and continued to listen, the captain clearly wasn't talking to a person so she wanted to find out what she was doing.

"I know it's been a long time since I've talked to you, but you were always someone I could count on. My comrades, friends, dead in Pieta. Hilda since you died... I have to find a way to save them. Like I should have saved you." Miria continued. Tabitha looked down at the ground in shame, she was intruding on such a personal moment for her captain. Miria was talking to a dead comrade and it wasn't right to invade her privacy like this, Tabitha crept away from the boulder and headed back to the inn.

Tabitha still felt a bit guilty for spying on her captain, but she was also pleased with herself, she knew that she judged Miria right. Miria truly was a good caring person, someone who mourns over the deaths of fellow warriors. Tabitha carefully opened the door and slid inside gently closing the door behind her. She walked over to her spot by the hearth and silently placed her sword on the ground settling in for sleep when she noticed Uma stirring.

"Where were you? And where's Miria?" Uma questioned still half asleep.

"The captain just had to go and take care of some things; don't worry about it, just go back to sleep." Tabitha responded. Uma shrugged groggily and settled back into sleep. Tabitha closed her eyes with a ghost of a smile on her lips. Miria wasn't just the steely leader or the gifted strategist that she was on the outside but she also had a strong heart, that's what made her a great leader, a great person. Someone that Tabitha would give her loyalty to no matter what.


End file.
